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cattyice11's review
3.0
Actual: 3.5 stars
This was a cute quick read that I decided to try bc I want to read more diverse books
This was a cute quick read that I decided to try bc I want to read more diverse books
mellamaron's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is like… between a 3.5 and a 4 and I’m going to round up to a 4.
Overall, I generally liked this book. I enjoyed reading it but I don’t think it will be one I look back on and remember much about. There were certain scenes I liked a lot and I looooved a certain character near the end who is kind of a spoiler I guess. I honestly liked that relationship more than Margot and Harper.
Anyway, I think my biggest frustration with the book was the timeline / pacing. At parts it felt very fast and other parts it felt very slow. At the beginning Harper has zero ideas about Margot - she legit tells her “that’s not necessary” and tells her to go away. I was hoping for more of a slow relationship because I liked that Harper had no preconceptions about Margot. Then the two talk three times that the reader sees (and a little more that the reader doesn’t see) in ONE WEEK and Harper is all “omg what is this feeling” 😬 I didn’t see it. Especially because some of their interactions were normal ass conversations that I’d have with a colleague or classmate 🙃 It was just too fast for me to comprehend or relate to.
And during this ONE WEEK, Nadia goes batshit crazy. 🧐 Yup. Okay. I know there is an attempt at making this seem plausible at the end but I just think the girl is cray cray. 🤷♀️
Then we get a nice conversation about Margot and Harper getting to know one another which I really liked. And the timeline just skips like … WEEKS? We have a random interaction at the Ren Faire which…. Felt like nothing to me. And a few other things, all of these felt like plot points in a pinboard that needed to get hit.
Finally when the shit hits the fan at the end is when I started to get invested again. And I generally liked how Skye handled the ending and the reveals. I called most of them but there weren’t many options. So I get it.
Overall, I think what I needed here was a shift in the timeline - I would have liked the “developing” of feelings to be over weeks instead of getting week skipping later. I honestly think had I had that, I would have enjoyed this a lot more. Individually I really like Harper. Margot is fine but not very memorable to me. Together? I don’t know - I just wanted more.
Overall, I generally liked this book. I enjoyed reading it but I don’t think it will be one I look back on and remember much about. There were certain scenes I liked a lot and I looooved a certain character near the end who is kind of a spoiler I guess. I honestly liked that relationship more than Margot and Harper.
Anyway, I think my biggest frustration with the book was the timeline / pacing. At parts it felt very fast and other parts it felt very slow. At the beginning Harper has zero ideas about Margot - she legit tells her “that’s not necessary” and tells her to go away. I was hoping for more of a slow relationship because I liked that Harper had no preconceptions about Margot. Then the two talk three times that the reader sees (and a little more that the reader doesn’t see) in ONE WEEK and Harper is all “omg what is this feeling” 😬 I didn’t see it. Especially because some of their interactions were normal ass conversations that I’d have with a colleague or classmate 🙃 It was just too fast for me to comprehend or relate to.
And during this ONE WEEK, Nadia goes batshit crazy. 🧐 Yup. Okay. I know there is an attempt at making this seem plausible at the end but I just think the girl is cray cray. 🤷♀️
Then we get a nice conversation about Margot and Harper getting to know one another which I really liked. And the timeline just skips like … WEEKS? We have a random interaction at the Ren Faire which…. Felt like nothing to me. And a few other things, all of these felt like plot points in a pinboard that needed to get hit.
Finally when the shit hits the fan at the end is when I started to get invested again. And I generally liked how Skye handled the ending and the reveals. I called most of them but there weren’t many options. So I get it.
Overall, I think what I needed here was a shift in the timeline - I would have liked the “developing” of feelings to be over weeks instead of getting week skipping later. I honestly think had I had that, I would have enjoyed this a lot more. Individually I really like Harper. Margot is fine but not very memorable to me. Together? I don’t know - I just wanted more.
stacy837's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, and Classism
girlbosslindsey's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was a good time I guess. The characters were kind of all over the place, specifically Bellamy and Nadia. Like am I supposed to like them or not???? Same with Harrison like huh???? But I enjoyed it I suppose.
tmills74's review
3.0
I was so excited for this book. While I admittedly didn’t like it as much as I hoped I would, I think it is a great addition to the YA world. I would’ve loved it when I was a teenager and think it will be great for so many current teens. The story was interesting and I loved the characters. The description of Harper’s relationship to her a sexuality and how it manifested in her relationship was excellent and represented a specific experience that is very underrepresented currently. I related very much to this experience and it was healing to see it reflected in a book. I also loved the marching band element. I think we are seeing a rise in diversity in YA books and the experiences they depict and this makes me so happy. A wider range of experiences are being explored through different identities, interests, and backdrops. As a color guard geek, I will say that while many of us our catty, not all of us are and I look forward to a queer color guard main character someday! I think many teenagers will see themselves reflected in this book and that is so important. They will know their experiences are valid and gain tools to understand and express themselves and their emotions.
gothamballer39's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Overall, this was a cute book and I liked the marching band dynamic. It was a little clichéd but it was sweet. I didn't love the plot reveal and I thought the motivations and characterizations of the friend characters wasn't nuanced enough
raavenreads's review
4.0
I wasn’t sure what I was getting into because I know nothing about band but this was such an easy read that I understood it going in blind. It’s also very short so it was a nice quick read with plenty of good characters and a dramatic plot that kept me invested.
Harper is just trying to get by in high school while her mother is the dean of her private boarding school and her father is a famous republican politician trying to get re-elected. She doesn’t think like either of her parents and misses the older brother that they kicked out and sent to military school for being a “problem child”. She’s never really had crushes on anyone before and is floored when a girl from band tells her that they’d been talking on tinder for a month when she’s never used tinder in her entire life. She soon begins to bond with Margot, the girl who got catfished, and realizes she has feelings for her.
I loved the asexual rep here. Harper coming out as ace to Margot and doing research and trying to figure out where she fits on the spectrum was very relatable to me. Feeling like she’s being disappointing and not knowing if anyone will accept her for her sexuality was also very relatable. I wish I had books like these when I was a teenager. It could have made the journey easier.
I liked how dramatic this got even though it seemed to happen so fast. Like one minute one thing happened and then another and I’m like WOW that was crazy. It just kept piling out with blow after blow. Without spoiling, Evelyn is a bitch. Plain and simple. The end was so cute and I hope everything works out. Harper’s mom is also kind of a bitch but I’m glad her dad seemed to try to have her back. I liked him through the story. He did seem pushy but loving. Her mom seemed very controlling.
Harper is just trying to get by in high school while her mother is the dean of her private boarding school and her father is a famous republican politician trying to get re-elected. She doesn’t think like either of her parents and misses the older brother that they kicked out and sent to military school for being a “problem child”. She’s never really had crushes on anyone before and is floored when a girl from band tells her that they’d been talking on tinder for a month when she’s never used tinder in her entire life. She soon begins to bond with Margot, the girl who got catfished, and realizes she has feelings for her.
I loved the asexual rep here. Harper coming out as ace to Margot and doing research and trying to figure out where she fits on the spectrum was very relatable to me. Feeling like she’s being disappointing and not knowing if anyone will accept her for her sexuality was also very relatable. I wish I had books like these when I was a teenager. It could have made the journey easier.
I liked how dramatic this got even though it seemed to happen so fast. Like one minute one thing happened and then another and I’m like WOW that was crazy. It just kept piling out with blow after blow. Without spoiling, Evelyn is a bitch. Plain and simple. The end was so cute and I hope everything works out. Harper’s mom is also kind of a bitch but I’m glad her dad seemed to try to have her back. I liked him through the story. He did seem pushy but loving. Her mom seemed very controlling.
womanwill's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
althea's review
3.0
I was so intrigued by this book ever since it was announced – of course, as you know, I’m a sucker for sapphic contemporary novels, but, living in Scotland, marching band isn’t really a thing here, so I was really curious to read this book on its release. The novel follows Harper who loves being a part of her school’s band, yet has the shadow of her mum being the dean and her dad’s political career looming over her. When Harper finds out that someone is impersonating her on Tinder, she starts to panic – students aren’t allowed dating profiles and her match is fellow drummer in the school band, Margot, but Harper isn’t even sure if she likes girls. But after getting to know Margot, Harper starts forming a friendship with her, but this could put her whole life, and her father’s political campaign on the line.
First and foremost, I loved the setting of this book – Harper studies at a prestigious private school headed by her mother, and I love boarding school books. I’m not quite sure what it is about them but they always seem to heighten my enjoyment of a book! I loved getting to follow Harper through her band rehearsals and study hours in her dorm, as well as playing her saxophone at school football games and even visiting a renaissance fair. It really was so fun and I think it also fed really well into the tricky friendships in the book, as well as Harper’s feelings of being stifled and not being able to figure herself out in her own time.
When I looked at a couple of reviews for the book, I noticed that some people didn’t love the difficult to navigate friendships that Harper has throughout the book, but I thought they seemed really natural. To some, the drama in Harper’s friend group may seem slightly contrived, but I thought that it was perfectly written – teenagers can be cruel for no reason and the falling outs and making back up again were so realistic to me, and I really feel that so many teens reading this book will be able to relate to Harper in their own lives. Furthermore, I really enjoyed seeing Harper gain new, strong friendships throughout the book, finding people she can rely on and who love her for who she is, and not because of who her parents are.
Of course, I have to mention the relationship. I thought Harper’s coming out journey was written so well and was handled with so much care and the on-page asexual and lesbian rep is going to be so valuable for younger teens who are also questioning their sexuality. The romance is pretty slow burn and grows off of a strong, stable friendship, and if you know me, I love friends to lovers! It was a super healthy and adorable romance and it was exactly what I was looking for going into this book!
However, I did have a couple of issues while reading. The main one being her father’s political opinions. From the start, and even in the synopsis, it is established that her dad is running for the Republican party – a right wing group. Though at times throughout the book, Harper admits that she is not a fan of his politics, it was not developed on enough for my liking. I can understand that maybe the author didn’t want this to be a really political book, but when it is really important to the story that he is running for President as the Republican candidate, I think that it’s really important to discuss how harmful the Republican party’s politics are. And this is especially true since Harper divulges that both of her parents are homophobic, and that this directly affects her throughout the book. It didn’t feel like enough for me and I think that some good political discussion would have really done well in the book, because after all, teens aren’t fragile, they know about politics and it affects their lives, so why gloss over it? I also thought that the ending was a bit rushed and that the other person having a crush on Harper was a bit unnecessary to the whole plotline and didn’t make much sense with what we’d read about them so far, but I can look past that since the other reveals worked well in my opinion.
Overall, this was a really fun, unique addition to sapphic YA contemporary that I think so many young people will benefit from and love and I can’t wait to see what Skye Quinlan releases next!
Thanks to TBR and Beyond Books, Page Street Publishing, and Netgalley for an eARC in return for an honest review!
Want more sapphic books? You can find me here: Book Blog | Twitter | Instagram
First and foremost, I loved the setting of this book – Harper studies at a prestigious private school headed by her mother, and I love boarding school books. I’m not quite sure what it is about them but they always seem to heighten my enjoyment of a book! I loved getting to follow Harper through her band rehearsals and study hours in her dorm, as well as playing her saxophone at school football games and even visiting a renaissance fair. It really was so fun and I think it also fed really well into the tricky friendships in the book, as well as Harper’s feelings of being stifled and not being able to figure herself out in her own time.
When I looked at a couple of reviews for the book, I noticed that some people didn’t love the difficult to navigate friendships that Harper has throughout the book, but I thought they seemed really natural. To some, the drama in Harper’s friend group may seem slightly contrived, but I thought that it was perfectly written – teenagers can be cruel for no reason and the falling outs and making back up again were so realistic to me, and I really feel that so many teens reading this book will be able to relate to Harper in their own lives. Furthermore, I really enjoyed seeing Harper gain new, strong friendships throughout the book, finding people she can rely on and who love her for who she is, and not because of who her parents are.
Of course, I have to mention the relationship. I thought Harper’s coming out journey was written so well and was handled with so much care and the on-page asexual and lesbian rep is going to be so valuable for younger teens who are also questioning their sexuality. The romance is pretty slow burn and grows off of a strong, stable friendship, and if you know me, I love friends to lovers! It was a super healthy and adorable romance and it was exactly what I was looking for going into this book!
However, I did have a couple of issues while reading. The main one being her father’s political opinions. From the start, and even in the synopsis, it is established that her dad is running for the Republican party – a right wing group. Though at times throughout the book, Harper admits that she is not a fan of his politics, it was not developed on enough for my liking. I can understand that maybe the author didn’t want this to be a really political book, but when it is really important to the story that he is running for President as the Republican candidate, I think that it’s really important to discuss how harmful the Republican party’s politics are. And this is especially true since Harper divulges that both of her parents are homophobic, and that this directly affects her throughout the book. It didn’t feel like enough for me and I think that some good political discussion would have really done well in the book, because after all, teens aren’t fragile, they know about politics and it affects their lives, so why gloss over it? I also thought that the ending was a bit rushed and that the other person having a crush on Harper was a bit unnecessary to the whole plotline and didn’t make much sense with what we’d read about them so far, but I can look past that since the other reveals worked well in my opinion.
Overall, this was a really fun, unique addition to sapphic YA contemporary that I think so many young people will benefit from and love and I can’t wait to see what Skye Quinlan releases next!
Thanks to TBR and Beyond Books, Page Street Publishing, and Netgalley for an eARC in return for an honest review!
Want more sapphic books? You can find me here: Book Blog | Twitter | Instagram